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Time Squared (episode)
The Enterprise discovers a duplicate of Picard from six hours in the future. Summary En route to the Endicor system, the encounters a Starfleet shuttlepod adrift in space. Once the pod is brought aboard the Enterprise, the crew discovers that it is not only the El-Baz, one of their own shuttles, but it contains an unconscious double of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. After Doctor Katherine Pulaski examines the unconscious Picard, it is found that his brainwaves are out of phase. Also, Counselor Deanna Troi detects very little emotion from him, and the shuttle he was in appears to be off-line. Back en route to the Endicor system, Lieutenant Commanders Geordi La Forge and Data attempt to transfer power to the shuttle, but end up shorting out its circuits. In sickbay, Dr. Pulaski examines the other Picard in more detail. She is able to determine that he is alive but all other readings seem to fluctuate erratically. At Captain Picard's request, Pulaski attempts to revive him but instead almost kills him. It seems that the stimulant had the opposite effect. Meanwhile, La Forge and Data apply a power inverter to the shuttle to try and extract the logs from it. After an adjustment fails, Data suggests doing the opposite of the previous procedure, and the power comes back online. La Forge sees that the stardate on the shuttle's chronometer is six hours in the future and deduces that the other Picard must be from that time. Pulaski is now successful in waking the future Picard, but he is disorientated and confused. The present Picard calls a staff meeting and La Forge shows him the logs he was able to retrieve from the shuttle. The visual log shows some sort of distortion, and the shuttle leaving the Enterprise, with Riker watching, then the Enterprise itself being destroyed. This is followed by an audio log by the Captain himself reporting on his witness to the loss of his ship. Despite this, the crew decides to remain on course as they realize that they may have already committed to a series of unalterable events. Pulaski theorizes that as they move closer to the time in which the other Picard left, his internal body clock is realigning, and that when normal time intersects with the time in which he left, for that instant he would begin to function normally and there will be two Picards. Troi begins to feel emotion from the future Picard and realizes that his one wish is to leave the Enterprise. Still on course to Endicor but not far from a meeting with fate, the other Picard is now more coherent. The present Picard begins to question him, becoming frustrated at his counterpart's abandonment of the Enterprise. Troi tries to reason with Picard, saying that the other is afraid. Picard, now disgusted at his other self, denies all familiarity with him and leaves sickbay. Pulaski then tells Troi that she will relieve the present Picard of duty should his judgment become impaired. Picard now debates with Commander Riker as to how and why the other Picard traveled though time, bringing up The Traveler and Paul Manheim's experiments with time. Riker suggests that Picard suppress his natural tendencies to try and save the Enterprise from decisions he may make and not to second-guess himself. Suddenly, without warning, an energy vortex appears beneath the Enterprise. In order to avoid being pulled in, La Forge has to hold the warp engines at 30% just to maintain their position. After being probed by the center of the vortex, Picard decides to stay and investigate, but then begins to worry that staying was the mistake which caused the destruction of the Enterprise. He decides to leave immediately, but trying to escape the vortex only results in the Enterprise being pulled further inside. The warp engines now have to be held at warp 7 just to maintain their position. A Class-1 probe is launched, but is destroyed by the vortex. Almost immediately after, both Picards are struck by some sort of energy beam. When the beam strikes again and La Forge is forced to hold the ship at maximum warp, Riker suggests destroying the vortex. Troi deduces that the energy wants Picard and he must leave the ship to distract its attention, now realizing what the plan of his counterpart was. Returning to his counterpart in sickbay, who is now much more aware of himself and his surroundings, he orders him released and follows him to shuttlebay two. The other Picard says that the entity recognizes Picard as the "brain" of the Enterprise and wants him, not the ship. Both Picards now argue as to what to do, with the present Picard trying to get as much information from the future Picard as he can before he gets to the shuttle. With the future Picard unwilling to divulge any information and the present Picard now seeing that his counterpart is unable to alter his actions, locked into a single event and purpose, he realizes that it is not him that will enter the shuttle but his counterpart and that before he can move forward the cycle must end. In a moment of realization, he kills his counterpart with a phaser and returns to the bridge, calling Pulaski to the shuttlebay, accompanied by Chief Miles O'Brien. He now orders that a course be set for the center of the vortex with all the power the ship can muster, and that their position be held no matter what. With the Enterprise coursing through the vortex, Chief O'Brien witnesses the other Picard and his shuttle vanish from existence and seconds later the Enterprise bursts back out into normal space. Background Information * The original title was "Time to the Second", however, the final title would mathematically be written "Time²" (both titles referring to the power of 2 in reference to the two Picards). * This episode was originally intended to be followed by , in which it was to be revealed that Q had created the time vortex. * Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) does not appear in this episode. * This is the first time we witness the destruction of the Enterprise-D, and the second time we witness the destruction of a starship. * In the original coda for the episode, Riker invites Dr. Pulaski, La Forge, and Worf back to his quarters to make up for his omelet fiasco from the teaser and fixes them Alaskan stew, which agrees with La Forge and Dr. Pulaski, but disgusts Worf, who "would have preferred another omelet." * The okudagram used to show the log taken from the shuttle El-Baz, albeit distorted, was reused from , and could be briefly read as stating: "Access File • Captain's Log • USS Yamato • NCC 71807", which originally appeared in Donald Varley's personal log. * In addition, the visual log showed that the El-Baz left the shuttlebay on stardate 42592.72, which was supposed to have been six hours after the shuttle was found, on stardate 42679.2. This discrepancy was clearly on behalf of the art department, as the dialog had previously indicated that the shuttlepod's clock read stardate 42679.5, which corresponded with the other spoken date reference. Video and DVD releases * Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 20, . * UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 2.5, . * As part of the TNG Season 2 DVD collection. Links and References Special Appearance By * Diana Muldaur as Doctor Pulaski Guest Star *Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien Uncredited Co-Star *Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace References ale; antimatter; brain; bread; Class 1 probe; clock; dog; egg; El-Baz; Endicor system; energy vortex; Ennan VI; Ennan VI ale; female; heartbeat; hell; internal clock; Manheim, Paul; Moebius; omelette; Owon; Persian; primary power; pulse; reserve power; Riker, Betty; Riker, Kyle; slingshot effect; Starbase 73; stardate; tractor beam; The Traveler; type-15 shuttlepod; variable phase inverter; vital signs; warp 10; weapons locker; whisk Log Entries *[[Captain's personal log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)#First Contact with Temporal Entity|Captain's personal log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)]] *[[Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2365#First Contact with Temporal Entity|Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2365]] |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Die Zukunft schweigt es:Time Squared fr:Time Squared nl:Time Squared